Weekly Middle

So, it's the middle of the week and after a few days being unsure, Bella is officially enjoying school!
We've found ourselves spending time outdoors.
The nature collection is ever growing, so we found a new place for it and added a sign.

Pretzels in a nature collection?

Our Inside Out Ocean Diorama was finished today!

We've been sampling a little bit of the BBC's Earth DVD. It is a wonderful series with amazing animal shots! My husband recommended it to me, and I scoffed a bit at us purchasing this but, now I am so thankful we have it! It is simply stunning. Here is a link to check it out on Amazon.
Planet Earth DVD on Amazon

Today was a beautiful day, so we took advantage of the sun and made sun tea, then went for an decidedly long nature walk.

Our "walk zone"

We also made great progress in Language Arts today. I have found it to be wonderful to lay out a blanket under an oak, and use our materials out there. Word Builders Mats are working really well for this.
I cut up foam letters I found at the dollar store and am using a little lap mat for Bella. I gather up a few letters, and using the "Word Builders" book I call out words for her to spell. I say them both normally and phonetically. So she can hear the sounds. We have just started blending so we are doing BA, AB, TA and so on.  We are also focusing on 30 sight words, and using primary readers and are on #4.
I can honestly say I too am loving school!

Summer School Day 1 - Feet Feet Feet

Using a simple book titled "Circle Time Science" we are prepping for school to start the end of August.
So, in order to do so I am using a transitional schedule set up for us to get used to the idea of having a schedule again :)
Here was our lesson for today-

*Opening Talk
Chat about your feet. Are they big or small? Rough or smooth? Do all feet look the same?
Take photos of your feet. Do the photos look different? Can you guess your foot from your siblings? 
Trace all of your feet.

*Changing Feet-
Get adult sized shoes for the kids to try on. Ask questions about what they will do when their feet are big. Have them predict what size their feet might be when they get older.

*Dictation-
Using "When I have big feet I will" to have the kids tell what they will do when their feet are bigger.

*Animal Feet-
Animals have different kinds of feet too!
We sang this oh so lovely song. It is annoying but the kids enjoy it! 

Be kind to your web-footed friends
For a duck may be somebody's mother,
Be kind to your friends in the swamp (Alternate line: She lives on the edge of a swamp)
Where the weather is always damp.

You may think that this is the end,
Well it is!

Label a piece of paper on one side write web-footed and on the other write non-web footed. 

Color and cut out pictures to past to the appropriate side. 

* Action 

Take the kids on a nature walk to look for tracks. Get mud wet, and have the kids make imprints of their own  tracks using shoes, sticks or rocks to start a conversation about prints made in the dirt.

What Are We Learning?

With both children I have been focused on-
Quiet time for 15 minutes twice a day (We slow our bodies and sit without talking or moving)
Spelling first and last name
Days of the week, the month we are in and the date
Counting to 20 and higher
Sounds of the alphabet

With Miss B-
Woodland Animals-names and homes
Writing her name
Sounding out words
Scripture memory
Phone number, address and city/state/country
Scissor skills
Addition and subtraction

With Mr C-
Reading and more reading
Colors
Alphabet
Counting

Mr C is slightly delayed in his language
so I am working with him to repeat what I say and doing flashcards to help him learn to say what he sees.
We are also trying for more one one time to further his development.

Human Anatomy ~The Lungs~

We are introducing Human Anatomy next week in out home.

Each week will be a new part of the body.

I will be introducing the lungs first. There is no rhyme or reason to my choosing that one first.
They just happened to have the best coloring page.
How we will disover will be quite simple.

1. I will introduce their function with a coloring sheet The Lungs Coloring Sheet
2. Miss B and I will practice taking deep breaths and watching our rib cage expand
3. I plan on filling a paper bag with air and letting it out....then filling it again and let it out.
She will be encouraged to do the same thing. We will talk about the bag expanding and contracting.
4. We might watch this video on youtube while we practice deep breathing

C Is For Cars And Other Things

It is all about letter C for the next few days.
Here are my ideas (borrowed from different sites and from my own head)
for some of our lessons.

How The Bible Will Be Involved

We talk about God the Creator of the world

We will use our Cubbies Book during devotion time. (That is just a coincidence with the C thing)

We also will sing Count Your Blessings (It is a favorite anyway)

How Math Will Be Involved

Car Counting- I have colored, laminated and cut out some cars for our counting pleasure

How Art And Music Will Be Involved

Colored Ice Cube Painting

C is for car coloring page

Cello coloring page

C-song sing time

Learning about the instrument the Cello

The above is a video we will watch that shows the Cello 

in action fairly well

Our Reading List

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom 

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Phonics and Language

We will make a big letter C and inside it write words that begin with the same letter

We will watch the C phonics video on youtube

How Science Will Be Involved

Our animal of the week is the caterpillar

We will make a caterpillar habitat and attempt to find one to place inside
 

Funday Friday

We celebrated A is for Apple day today in the W's home.

First of all we washed and dried several apples and set them on a tray in front Miss B.
(To have for a snack later)
Then she put her coloring skills to quick work to create an Apple book.

Apple Book waiting to be put together

After that was finished, we cut up our apples and ate them.
She saw the star that was inside and I pointed out the stem.
I wrote down her thoughts about apples while she munched.
We talked about who created apples
and God who is creator of all.
Then, it was time for the painting.......
We cut an apple in half to find the star first.
Then, I put plastic wrap over a plate for our paint and away she went.

Master apple stamper at work

We sat down to reading time and enjoyed these lovely books

The second one afforded a nice time to talk about seasons and what fall or autumn looks like outside.

During Music Time we sang

SONG- Tune: Twinkle, twinkle little star. . .
Apples juicy, Apples round,
On the the tees and on the ground.
Apples yellow, Apples red,
Apple juice or pie and bread.
Apples crunchy, Apples sweet,
Apples are so good to eat!

Apple Finger Play  
Here I have five apples. (hold up five fingers)
And here are five again. (hold up other hands)
How many apples altogether? (shrug)
Why, five and five make ten! (clap)

Then we watched the A song on youtube.

The last thing we did was to cut out counting apples. It was a fun way to work on basic addition with her.
I ask the question "If I have two apples but am hungry and want one more how many is that"
She quickly caught onto this concept a few weeks ago using shapes so I thought apples would be fun too.